“Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us” by Michael Wesch is licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, explores CC-related themes, but you should watch it because it’s a very well done work. Can’t wait to see the final cut (this is the 2nd draft) — and remixes.

The song is “There’s Nothing Impossible” by Deus, available for free at http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/103/
Deus offers music under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 2.0 license, yet one more example of the interlinking of people sharing and collaborating this video is attempting to illustrate.

You can do great things with free content, and great things with free code, but combining the two multiplies their effect. So I found when I wanted to enhance my Free Software music system with more information about the compositions it played.

Make no mistake, ccMixter is the complete package. No other remix site commands the same level of respect amongst musicians, producers and content creators.

Read the entire article for a great overview, then check out 100 CC BY hits, a playlist put together by CC Creative Director Eric Steuer — 100 great tracks licensed under CC Attribution — free permission granted for remix and commercial use.

I am moving on, so Creative Commons needs a new General Counsel. The description of the job and its requirements is here. If you are experienced in intellectual property law (with a liking for copyright issues) and want to be involved in an organization that will give you unique opportunities and a chance to be part of trying (and succeeding) to change the debate about copyright law and digital technologies, then this is the job for you. Or maybe you know someone who meets this description, in which case please pass on the details.

The competition invites short video submissions mixing and mashing digital content that are less than 3 minutes in length. You can only use content that you can license to the public under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 license.

Submissions can be made from the 8th of February to the 10th of March. The winners will be notified by the 12th of March. The best entries will be screened at the National Film Theatre on 16 March as part of the Optronica Festival. The winner will also receive Avid Xpress Pro film editing software and have their entry featured by Google Video UK and on the Creative Commons UK site.

So it’s been a while since we discussed Version 3.0 but it is still happening. We’re putting the finishing touches on the new license drafts for the new US and new generic/unported licenses and working to make them public within the next 10 days.

As you know, Creative Commons has long been hopeful of enabling interoperability between licenses that guarantee the same frictions. Back in November 2005, Larry described his vision of building an ecology of free licenses.

Although it has not been possible to date to agree with other license stewards on the exact details necessary to make licenses that are equivalent to a specific CC license compatible yet, Creative Commons remains hopeful that it will be possible at a date in the future to secure the necessary agreement with license stewards for equivalent licenses. Because we would have to change our licenses to effect this and because we are reticient to version too often (not just because it requires a lot of work for all concerned but also because it adds complexity to a system designed to be simple), we propose to include the structure of compatibility as part of the Version 3.0 changes.

Given it is the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license that is most likely to be capable of compatibility with other existing flexible licenses, we are proposing to add new language to the “ShareAlike clause” of the BY-SA to establish the structure of compatibility.

An amended version of the draft Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (US) license has been posted to the cc-licenses list. Please post any comments you have to this list.

Because we are anticipating that this will not be controversial or provoke much comment, we are hoping to roll out the Version 3.0 licenses by the end of next week with the BY-SA compatibility language included. So if you have comments or suggestions for improvement, please make them to the cc-licenses (subscription required) list as soon as possible.

The audio source files for the Vieux Farka Toure remix contest at ccMixter have been online for two weeks now, and today’s the day the competition begins accepting entries. There are already a bunch of great submissions online — check them out here. You have until March 7 to upload your remix — what are you waiting for?

Vocoid is a local San Francisco net label/collective dedicated to supporting musicians by providing space and shared promotion. Last week they announced the first ever Vocoid Remix Contest. The contest utilizes ccMixter as the platform and the raw audio from their album Medly for your mixing and mashing pleasure. Check out their website for contest rules, information and other cool events.